Travels of the Flaming Chihuahua  - CL16  #523
2005 Can-Am Regatta
by Steve & Andrew Macklin

Steve and Andrew left Belleville early Friday morning for the 10+ hour drive up to Hilton Beach near Sault Ste Marie for the 2005 CL16 Can-Am Regatta. Co-conspirators & Can-Am Race veterans, Colin Junkin and Heather Wood of CL16 #929 fame, had left the day earlier to do some leisurely blueberry picking and get a full day of practice in before the rest of the fleet arrived.

Tagging along behind us was our trusty CL16 #523 recently renamed the Flaming Chihuahua (ex Marley2, ex Worth It, ex Gunter Witt).  The Chihuahua enjoyed a luxury ride on a hastily purchased new Easyloader trailer, as the 1973 Wiscott unearthed from the backyard was not up to the task. The inverted leaf spring on the left side and the rather pronounced heel of the Chihuahua on the 401 gave that away.

We rolled into Hilton Beach at 6 PM just in time for the Friday evening beer drinking registration. This also gave us enough time to set up the boat and size up the competition for the next day. Hilton Beach is a small village (pop. 200) on St Joseph’s Island about a half hour from the Soo. It includes a new first rate harbour facility and a wonderful sheltered bay at the tip of the North Channel boasting the most amazing sparkling emerald waters.

The Can-Am Regatta is hosted by the North Channel Yacht Club of Desbarats and an army of volunteers drawn from the local community. Teams had arrived from all over Ontario, Manitoba, and the USA to participate in this year’s regatta.  Joining the fleet of intrepid CL16’s was a Wayfarer crew from Oakville with the ominous name of “Uncle Al” Schonborn and Marc Bennett.  They borrowed a “cottage” CL16, slapped on a set of sails, and were welcomed into the CL16 fold.
  

Saturday morning started with promising ripples on the water and scattered clouds to break up the clear blue sky.  A total of 24 boats were registered and preparing eagerly to head to the starting line for a 3-race day.  The race committee could pick from an Olympic triangle or a Windward–Leeward “Sausage” course with legs of about 2 km.  The nice, long windward legs allowed lots of time to recover from bad starts. 
 
The first race started with a steady 5-kt wind from the East. The first starting line just off the harbour mouth had a nice skew for which a few aggressive skippers (Colin) elected to pull off the famous Port Tack start. Colin and Heather blasted out to an amazing start only to have an overly aggressive fleet force a general recall.  You could hear the ominous sound of splintering fiberglass from somewhere in the back of the fleet.  This gave the rest of us time to think about Colin’s approach, which brought many of the boats onto the Port end for the re-start. 

The second start was clean (unfortunately) and the Chihuahua had to work its way from the 3rd row in search of clean air.  Clean air was achieved and the dog showed its legs by working to a respectable 4th place finish, just being edged out by local skippers Jim Hill (Hagar) and Kipp Silvester (C-Ya).  Uncle Al set the stage right at the first race by doing a horizon job on the fleet to capture the first of 5 bullets. This race also saw the first CL16 go sunny side up which the somewhat surprised crew was easily able to right and continue on.

Between races brought the time-honored dinghy racing “bagged lunch” provided by the local support crew and some time for the wind to clock around and settle in for a freshening offshore Westerly. The 2nd race started in a building 10-kt breeze with another opportunity for a Port Start at the committee boat.  We were starting to think the race committee was doing this just for the sport of watching all the action up close.  Colin once again owned the pole position out of the gate.  The Chihuahua claimed a nice spot on the line a little further down with clear air.  Action was much tighter in this race with lots of “Starboards” and “Hold your course” being heard throughout the upwind leg. Colin and Heather chased Uncle Al around the Windward mark in 2nd place and headed down the triangle reaches neck and neck.

The offshore breeze set up for lots of oscillating shifts which made the windward leg a challenge and full of opportunities. The dog used this to full advantage to work all the way up to Uncle Al’s transom to claim a 2nd place at the finish line just edging out John Kupers and daughter, Laura, of Brampton. Colin and Heather held off Hagar for a nice 5th-placed finish.

With the wind freshening to near 15 kts for the 3rd race, team Chihuahua decided to just run a conservative race and see how we could do in the over-powered conditions.  (Skippers Note - crew, Andrew, weighs in under 100 lbs soaking wet).  With a mid-line Starboard start and lots of clear air, the dog feathered its way up the course, finding all the right shifts to claim another 2nd place finish. Again, both Hagar and C-Ya were right on the dog’s tail making for some tight racing. The 3rd race also claimed a victim in the form of crew Andrew’s prized OMHA hockey cap.  We watched it bounce off the lee rail and then fall behind us on an upwind leg.  The skipper explained it was a casualty of racing, and no, we cannot go back and get it.

Sunday morning winds started where Saturday left off with crisp 10-15 kt offshore winds.  A few crews loaded up with a 3rd person in expectation of heavy winds and in preparation for the all important 5th race for the Hilton Cup. Sunday morning also brought a pleasant surprise in that Andrew’s lost hockey cap was hanging on the dock railing to greet him. Uncle Al’s crew had fished it from the lake on the downwind leg. (Skipper’s note – remember to buy Marc a Beer at next regatta).

The first race was set up as a triangle. The perfectly square line and strong winds again called for a clean air mid-line start for the Chihuahua.  Minutes before the gun, we heard a sharp crack and looked up to see that Colin and Heather’s jib halyard had exploded out of the turning block. Unfortunately their 4th race was over.  They were able to repair and were back out for the 5th race.

The Chihuahua started clean and worked its way thru the shifts and we found ourselves again on Uncle Al’s transom for the reaches.  Crew Andrew learned what planing was and we ran like a greyhound. We had the good fortune of taking over the lead at the Leeward mark.  The glory lasted for about 2 minutes up the next windward leg until Uncle Al left us behind, expertly playing the shifts. We held on to cross the finish line in 3rd place behind a great come-from-behind charge by the blue-sailed boat from Colorado.

The 5th and all important final race for the Hilton Cup started in 15-20 kts with great 20+ kt gusts just to make it interesting.  The lake was filled with white caps and the spray was starting to come off the tops of the waves.  The offshore breeze kept the wave heights down, which helped. Greatly overpowered and underweight, we did not have high expectations for the final race.  The skipper gave the crew the option of heading in, but the trusting lad said “Let's give it a try.”  (Maybe he did not know better – as I came to surmise later).

We banged the starting line (with only inches to spare, I later learned from the race committee) and feathered our way upwind to fetch the weather mark in about 8th place. The reaches gave us some planing opportunities which we capitalized on.  The weather legs provided some amazing upwind lifted channels that the Chihuahua walked its way thru.

By the finish line, we had captured another 2nd place just barely ahead of Hagar, our regatta-long rivals.  This also earned us a 2nd place overall for the regatta, which was an overwhelmingly pleasant surprise.
 
Back at the dock, we traded more war stories and helped each other load our boats.  I witnessed for the first time, a pair of CL16’s trailered deck-to-deck by the guys from Winnipeg. (And I thought we had a long drive home).

Another spread of food on the Tilt’n-Hilton front lawn, awards ceremonies, and hand-shakes with some new sailing friends and we headed back to the Soo for the evening  (remember the water slide).

Would I travel 21 hours for another sailing regatta – probably not.   Would I travel 21 hours for this Regatta - yes, for sure.   Hope to see everyone next year.